Those Summer Nights
by e-felix
Summary: "What would happen if Finn and Puck moved to California? If Kurt and Blaine couldn't keep up the ldr? If an unexpected enemy turns into an irreplaceable friend" Finn and Puck move to Cali and find out Sebastian moved there too. Kurt visits for a summer
1. Chapter 1

Kurt sits impatiently in the baggage claim area, fiddling with his luggage tags on his bags. It's been exactly 47 minutes since his flight landed and Finn still isn't here to pick him up yet. He should have known better than to trust Finn with the simple task of picking him up. He wish that he had asked Finn for his address so he could go get a taxi instead of having to wait around in baggage claim like a vagabond.

Kurt sighs and pulls out his phone again. 53 minutes. Finn was almost an hour late and all Kurt wanted to do was shower and take a nap. The 6 hour flight to California from New York was grueling on his back and he could never sleep on daytime flights.

"Where are you!"

This is the 8th text message that Kurt has sent to Finn's phone and he thinks that it's only fair considering that he had told him on several occasions the time that his flight would be landing. Even with the slight delays, his flight had came in within 5 minutes of the expected arrival time.

Kurt kept twisting at his luggage tags and once again reconsidered his decision to spend a month and a half of his precious summer with his stepbrother and his best friend. His dad and Carole had decided to go on a cruise to the Bahamas leaving Kurt with the choice to either come home to an empty house or find another place to spend his vacation. When Finn offered one of the rooms in the house that he shared with Puck and another one of their band members, the offer seemed better than staying in his own studio apartment. Alone. It was bad enough that he had to spend his 19th birthday with Rachel Berry of all people, who had decided to spend the entire night whining about some audition.

So Kurt had accepted Finn's gracious offer and here he was waiting for him to pick him up. An hour and 3 minutes.

"Kurt!"

Kurt looked up and glanced around for the person calling out his name. He hoped that it was Finn and not someone looking for another Kurt.

"Kurt, over here!"

Kurt followed the direction of the voice until his eyes settled on a very tan giant with shaggy hair.

"Finn?"

"Dude, I'm so sorry I'm late but we had an emergency. Our keyboarder just got hired at some accounting firm and he quit the band this morning and we have a gig tonight and I-"

"What the hell happened to your hair!"

Kurt knows that this probably isn't the best way to great his stepbrother that he hasn't seen in months but there is no way around confronting what he sees in front of him. The tan is understandable, after all he is living in California, but the hair is just inexcusable. It looks like Finn just decided to stop getting haircuts as soon as he moved out and also decided not to style it in the slightest.

"Wha-? Oh! Yeah, I forgot that you hadn't seen me for a while. Haircuts are expensive, ya know?"

Finn runs his fingers through his hair and grins down at Kurt. They stand there for another moment before Finn reaches out for Kurt's luggage and practically yanks it from his hands.

"Is this all you came with dude?"

"Yes, I decided to pack light. I didn't know how much space you guys would have available. Or how much I might want to bring back with me."

"Dude, our house is amazing, you gotta see it!"

Finn starts walking in what Kurt assumes to be the direction of the exit.

"I'm guessing I will, since I will be staying there for a month."

"Right! That's totally right!"

Kurt shakes his head as he struggles to keep up with Finn. His fast New Yorker pace is nothing compared to Finn's long strides. They walk out of the airport and to a long line of cars. Before Kurt can ask where Finn parked at, Finn has thrown his bags into the back of a gold Mercedes SUV.

"Is this yours!"

The car is nice, used, but nice. Even if it's used, it's still a Mercedes and that's still way out of Finn's price range. Especially if he can't afford a haircut.

"Well, kinda. Not really. It's the band's. We all kind of share it. Just watch out for.. the stuff."

Both boys climb into the car and Kurt can see exactly what Finn means "the stuff". Several fast food bags and containers litter the inside of the car. Besides the obvious trash, there are two guitars and a drum kit in the back seat that are pushing towards the front. Kurt doesn't even want to look and see what's in the back of the car where his bags where thrown.

"Well, at least the outside of the car is nice."

Finn smiles over at Kurt, oblivious to the insult, before speeding off. Literally, speeding off. Kurt barely has time to put on his seat belt before Finn has sped out of the parking lot and onto some unnamed road. He keeps up the ridiculous speed all down the highway before he gets stuck in a small traffic jam.

"Aw, fuck." Finn's curse is abbreviated by him smacking the horn.

"What's your problem, speed demon?"

"What?" Finn looks over at Kurt, as if he was just remembering that he was in the car too. "Oh, well, we were kind of in the middle of a very important band meeting. And I left to go pick you up. And now I need to get back. Quickly."

Kurt nods and lowers his head slightly. "Sorry to be such an inconvenience"

Kurt really wishes that he would have just stayed in New York, but Finn had offered.

"Oh no, it's not you! It's York!"

"York?"

"Our keyboardist. Well, ex-keyboardist. He went and got a job!"

"At the accounting firm?"

"Yeah! How'd you know?"

Finn looks over at Kurt with his eyebrows raised. Kurt laughs and pulls the pair of sunglasses that he had hung on his shirt and puts them on.

"Just a lucky guess."

Kurt sits back and watches Finn navigate through the traffic until they manage to reach their exit. Finn drives around for a while before they reach a small neighborhood. Finn pulls up to a house that is quite nice.

"Did you have to make a stop first?"

Finn gives Kurt that funny look again and shakes his head 'no'.

"This is your house!"

"Well it's not mine, technically. We rent it."

"You mean you and Puck make enough to rent this house!"

"And the other guys, yeah."

Kurt gives Finn a ridiculous look as they step out of the car. The house is by no means gorgeous. It's a two level yellow stucco with a shed clay roof. It has a few palm trees around that look like they are desperate for some water, but other than that the landscaping is beautiful. It's a great house, but it's too great. Kurt knows that a house like this in this area of California is probably ridiculously expensive even if it was in a bad neighborhood, which it definitely isn't.

By the time Kurt has gawked at the house, Finn already has his bags out of the car and is heading towards the front door. Kurt races to catch up with him and nearly slams into Finn's back as he stops suddenly right in front of the large wooden door. Kurt can hear heated voices on the other side and guesses that the band meeting is still going on. Finn turns around and looks Kurt in the eye.

"Dude, you have to promise me to be cool."

Kurt can't help but be reminded of the first time one of his classmates took him to an after party for some fashion event. He made him promise to "be cool" and not freak out. He didn't see why Finn was acting the same way now.

"Be cool? Finn, I'm 19, not 9. I can handle myself appropriately."

"I know, just.. Remember that none of us are in high school anymore. We've all changed."

Kurt raised an eyebrow at Finn. So this is what he was freaking out about. Puck. Kurt knew that Puck had done surprisingly well in California. No one had expected Puck to get off to such a great start. Kurt had pinned it all on Finn, having a best friend tag along and support him might have been the push he needed to succeed. Kurt wondered if Puck was doing better than he had heard. With the car, the house, and Finn's sudden nervousness, Kurt was starting to see things fall into place.

"I can obviously see that you all have greatly matured, Finn. Remember that you aren't the only one living on your own now. I've been in New York you know. I can handle myself just fine."

Finn nods once, and turns back to the door, pushing it open with his side. He steps into what appears to be a very large living room. To the right, is a spiraling staircase that Finn sets his bags down next to.

"You can take those up later. Come meet the guys first."

Finn shuffles off on the hardwood floors leaving an awestruck Kurt to follow behind him. The massive windows on the house let the sun shine and illuminate the entire house. As they reach a small set of stairs leading down into a carpeted room (Shag carpeting? Really?"), Kurt can hear the voices getting louder. One sounds all too familiar.

"There's no frickin' way that we could find somebody to play the keyboards for the gig tonight, man!"

Kurt steps down into the room behind Finn, oddly comforted by Puck's voice. As Kurt steps in he sees Puck immediately. He's practically fuming as he stomps around the room. Kurt looks around the room at the other two guys. One sits slumped over on the couch and looks up at Kurt curiously. The other has his back turned to the room and is staring out of the large window into the backyard.

"Hey guys, I'm back. Rew, this is Kurt, my brother. Kurt, this is Rew our bass guitarist. You already know Puck."

"Hi, Rew. Puck."

Kurt waves and looks at both of the guys and turns to the third that still hasn't turned away from the window.

"Who's that over there?" Kurt turns to Finn who has suddenly seemed to shrink down three inches.

"Well, he's .. that's our lead singer. Yeah."

"Does he have a name?"

Suddenly the guy turns around and Kurt can feel his blood run cold.

"Why Kurt, don't tell me that you've forgotten me already!"

Kurt tries to regain his composure, but he thinks that he's failing.

"Of course not, how could I ever forget you, Sebastian."


	2. Chapter 2

You see, the thing about Sebastian was that Kurt couldn't completely hate him. He was a reformed jerk, cleaning up his act and all after the whole Karofsky incident senior year. He definitely wasn't one of Kurt's friends now but Kurt knew that he could no longer justify him as an enemy. And apparently neither could Finn or Puck.

That still didn't explain how he had ended up in California and in a band with Finn and Puck. As the lead singer, no less. One thing Kurt prided himself on though, was his ability to remain visibly calm under pressure. No matter how startled he was on the inside.

The awkward silence that had fallen in the room was too much for Kurt to handle and he just had to break it.

"So Sebastian, what brings you to California?"

"Well Kurt, you know everyone isn't fit for that New York lifestyle. I decided to take it easy. Relax a bit."

"Here in California?"

"Why not? Sun, fun, everything I needed. Well, almost everything."

Sebastian sent a smirk Kurt's way and he felt a bit dazzled. The sun was shining in through the windows, after all.

"And California was the place to do that?"

"Look Kurt, go ahead and ask me what you want to ask me. We're kind of in the middle of an important discussion here. You want to know how Finn and Puck ended up here with me, right?"

Kurt can feel his face blush red at the assertiveness of Sebastian's accusation. Which isn't entirely true. Kurt does wonder how they all ended up together in a band and sharing a house, it's just that Sebastian's phrasing seems a bit odd. How did Finn and Puck end up with him? That wouldn't make any sense unless...

The house was Sebastian's. The car was too, if Kurt had assumed correctly. Kurt knew that there was no way that the guys could afford all of this just by singing and cleaning pools. Sebastian's money must have gave them enough cushion to do their own thing. A lot of cushion.

Kurt's mind reeled as he thought of what this meant. He was staying in a house that was being paid for by Sebastian Smythe. Well, Sebastian Smythe's parents. Hell, Finn and Puck had been living here for months. What did that mean?

Kurt cleared his throat quickly, looking for a comeback or at the very least, some sort of dignified response.

"I think I've figured out how they ended up here, Sebastian. It's how they ended up staying is what concerns me the most."

Sebastian smirks again and this time Kurt can't help but smirk back. It's kind of odd how their banter has turned almost friendly. Kurt has matured though, and he's hoping that California has done for Sebastian what New York has done for Kurt.

Finn coughs from the side of the room that he has shrunk into, which is no small task for someone as big as him.

"Have you dudes, uhm, decided what to do?"

Puck sees his opportunity to get frustrated again and wholeheartedly takes it.

"No man, we haven't. York won't even come back for tonight's gig. We're fucking screwed. Nobody is going to be able to keep up with our melodies or key changes. Half the guys who showed up to audition were stoned out of their minds. The other half was just chicken shit. We can't fucking bail on this gig either man. It's at Faultline. Do you know how many record label douche guys hang out there! This could have been our big fucking break! And York just ditched us. For some fancy suit job."

Puck stalks around the room as he speaks and huffs and moves his hands in a very aggravated manner. It's somewhat scary how serious he seems. Kurt never thought that Puck would be the one to take this whole moving to LA to get a record deal thing seriously, but it's obvious that he is dead set on making it.

Kurt steps back and let's Puck pace around the middle of the room. He knows that this is their business and doesn't want to intrude in their conversation.

The quiet guy on the sofa, Rew if Kurt remembers correctly, finally decides to speak up. Rew is small and Asian and reminds Kurt of Tina. His hair has green streaks and his eyes are too bold to not have been enhanced by Maybelline.

"We could always use the house keyboard player?"

Puck turns on Rew so quickly that even Kurt gets scared for him.

"The fuck! No. We can't do that. Only suck ass bands with no talent and no potential do that. That's almost worse than getting a house drummer to step in. We need to find a replacement or find a way to do it without the keyboard parts."

Finn starts laughing and it's the first time that the thought of Finn possibly being high crosses into his mind.

"Without the keyboard parts? Dude, most of the songs have a little keyboard solo while Seb sings the chorus. York doesn't even have those parts written down. He just ad libs them while Seb does his thing."

"That's true. He tells me to sing and he'll keep up with my harmonies. Especially at the end."

Sebastian walks over to a keyboard that is set up on the far end of the room next to the stairs... or Seb as Finn seems to call him, which is odd on so many levels that Kurt doesn't even want to begin thinking about it until he has gotten at least 8 full hours of rest.

The keyboard is closer to Kurt and he doesn't see why he hadn't noticed it. It is the only musical instrument in the room and Kurt remembers seeing the guitars and drums in the car. Obviously, it's staying here.

Pieces of sheet music float off of the keyboard as Sebastian rests his hands down on it. Kurt leans down, curious about what this guys York has composed that's leaving the rest of them in such awe.

The sheet music isn't too complicated. A lot of details maybe, but nothing Kurt couldn't play with his classical piano training. The song's lyrics are nice too, Kurt can see how much time this guy must have put into his music. He doesn't see why someone with this level of dedication to his music would just up and leave the band. Especially if this performance tonight is important as Puck says that it is.

Out of habit, Kurt checks the liner notes and sees who wrote the music and lyrics.

_**S. Smythe**_

Sebastian wrote this? Not only the lyrics, but the music as well? Kurt checks the paper again looking for York's name anywhere on the paper in his hands. He can't find it anywhere.

Kurt looks up at Sebastian who is still watching the other three guys argue. They have continued while Kurt was engrossed in the sheet music.

Sebastian doesn't see Kurt looking at him, but Puck does. He stops in the middle of ranting and turns to Kurt.

"What are you doing with York's sheet music?"

"York's sheet music?" With a quick glance to Sebastian, who looks a bit nervous for the first time today, Kurt realizes that nobody knows that Sebastian has written their music. "I was just sight reading it." Kurt finishes hurriedly, looking away from Sebastian and back to Puck quickly.

"Sight reading?"

"Yes, you know. You look at the music and go over how to play it."

"I know what sight reading is, Kurt. You're sight reading keyboard music!"

Finn nods in affirmation, crossing over the room to where Kurt is standing.

"Yeah dude, Kurt plays the pian- OH! Kurt plays the piano!"

Finn's face turns into a gigantic smile and he starts to jump up and down and do some sort of dance that makes Kurt laugh.

"Yes Finn, I play piano. 10 years of classical piano training."

Puck seems to catch whatever disease Finn has because he starts jumping and dancing too.

"That's great! You play piano! You can read sheet music!"

Kurt sees Rew behind the two guys and his face broadens into a huge grin as well. He puts his thumbs up in Kurt's direction and Kurt finally catches on to what the guys are thinking.

"Oh no, I am not playing for guys! That is not happening!"

Kurt's words seem to shoot daggers through the guys happiness balloons and they quickly deflate.

"What! Dude, come one! Just for tonight!"

Finn starts to whine and his face looks like a kicked puppy in desperate need of a trip to the groomers.

Puck's face has turned red with anger, he doesn't feel the need to beg apparently.

"You have to do this. You have to man. Seb, tell him that he has to!"

Kurt scoffs in Puck's direction. Does he really think that Sebastian has any type of control over him? Kurt folds his arms across his chest and looks defiantly from Puck to Sebastian. Sebastian, who has been unusually quiet for this whole ordeal, rubs his neck and shrugs.

"Noah, I can't make Kurt do anything. Although it wouldn't kill him to be nice enough to help us out for the night. I couldn't possibly force him to be a decent person."

Sebastian looks up slyly at Kurt, a smile tugging at his lips. Kurt's mouth drops open. He can't believe that Sebastian is playing him as the bad guy here! That's supposed to be his job.

Finn walks over to Kurt and nudges his side.

"Dude, please. I know this is supposed to be your vacation and all but we really need your help. This could be our big break. We really need you, dude."

Kurt bites his lip and looks between all three of the guys who are standing up. He peeks over at Rew who is still on the couch. Rew's face looks so hopeful and pathetic and Kurt is once again reminded of Tina. He sighs and rolls his eyes.

"Fine. I'll play keyboards for you guys, but-"

Whatever Kurt was going to say is cut off by a massive bear hug from Finn. Puck's shouts of "Yes!" echo though the room and as Finn picks Kurt off the ground and swings him around, Kurt can swear that he sees Sebastian smiling up at him with a look on his face that Kurt has never seen there before.


	3. Chapter 3

The first thing that Kurt usually does when he enters his room on vacation is survey the space he has available and unpack his bags.

Not gawk and squeal and jump on the bed like a teenager. And he will very much deny it if you ask him.

But that is exactly what he does when he enters the room that Finn has directed him to. He can't help it, it's magnificent. The large windows that seem to be prevalent throughout the house allow the room to be basked in natural sunshine. The teal colors on the walls pop out and accentuate all of the well picked decorations in the room. The bed is round and not tacky at all like Kurt would have expected. There was even a flat screen television on the wall facing the bed.

The room looks nice but the bathroom is even better. It has stone everywhere and not only has a shower but a large jacuzzi tub as well. Kurt thinks that he's in heaven. His apartment in New York, despite his best decorating efforts, was no where near as fabulous as this room was.

After Kurt's initial awe, he unpacked and took a hot, relaxing shower and changed out of his airplane outfit and into his standard straight leg jean and button up combo. By this time, he could feel all of the jet lag setting in and all he wanted was to curl up on the very comfy bed.

He walked out of the bathroom to find Finn sprawled on the bed with the television turned on to some show with several guys yelling at each other.

"Finn, what are you doing in here?"

Finn sits up hurriedly and turns the television off. He doesn't move off of the bed and Kurt thinks about pushing him off.

"Dude, I came up here to get you. Puck wants you and Seb to practice before the gig."

Kurt's mind is still too tired to even question the nickname.

"Finn. I am tired. I just got off of a six hour early morning flight and had to wait for you in the middle of the airport for an hour. I came here to find out that my step brother and his best friend live with our high school rival in a fabulous house and that they all are in a band together. I need a nap and maybe some shopping therapy, but definitely a nap."

"But Puck said-"

"Finn, I am going to take a nap. I'm sure that the gig is later tonight. Wake me up in a few hours and Sebastian and I will practice then, okay?"

Kurt is rubbing his temples. He feels like if Finn doesn't leave now, he might just crawl on the bed anyway and kick Finn until he gets the hint.

"I.. uh, okay, dude. So you're not going to bail on playing or anything, right?"

Finn finally stands up and Kurt takes the opportunity to fall face first on the bed.

"No!" Kurt yells, his voice muffled from the comforter. "Just let me nap!"

Kurt doesn't hear anything for a while before he hears Finn steps and the door closing. He sighs and turns over, getting comfortable.

What feels like minutes later, Kurt is awoken by a sharp pain in his side.

"Wake up. Wake up, dude."

Oh, so the pain is Finn. Poking him.

"Ughhhhhh."

The noise that Kurt makes is enough for Finn to stop poking him for about 5 seconds. Then he starts again.

"Dude."

Kurt sits up and whacks Finn's arm.

"Mm' up." Kurt says groggily.

Kurt doesn't know what time it is, but the sun is still out. It's bright but noticeably less than when he went to sleep.

"Come on dude, you've been sleep forever. You have to come on and practice for tonight."

Kurt huffs and moves slowly out of the bed. He takes in his surroundings again, reminding himself that he wasn't dreaming.

"With Sebastian, right. What time is it?"

Finn looks down at his wrist, which doesn't have a watch on it, before looking out the window.

"It looks about 4 or 5. Maybe 6."

Kurt rolls his eyes and walks out of the room, Finn following quickly behind him. As he reaches the stairs, he sees Puck and Sebastian talking at the landing.

As he descends the stairs, he feels slightly self conscious as both boys watch him come down.

"Ahh, I see Finn here has woken you up. You ready to practice?"

Sebastian's voice is just way to cheery for Kurt to handle right now, so he just nods his agreement.

"Great, let's go!" Sebastian leads Kurt off towards the room with the carpeting and much to Kurt's surprise, Puck and Finn follow behind them.

Once they step down the stairs into the room, Puck turns around to Finn.

"Can you go with Rew to pick up some more picks for tonight?"

Finn nods as Puck hands him the keys. "Good luck, Kurt!"

Finn waves as he heads off, leaving Kurt alone with Sebastian and Puck. Kurt finds himself suddenly feeling very nervous and awkward.

"So... What do you guys want me to do?"

Kurt turns to both of them expectantly and Puck shrugs as he walks over to the couch.

"Seb will tell you. Just go over the songs we're gonna do tonight."

Sebastian nods and gestures at the keyboard for Kurt to sit down. As Kurt sits, he shuffles through the sheet music and pulls out a few sheets and sets them up for Kurt to see.

"Okay, these are the songs that we are going to do tonight. Go ahead and look over them and then we could run through it.

Kurt nods and begins to read through the music, looking at both the lyrics and the notes. He doesn't see the song he had picked up this morning, but they are all still really good.

After a while, Kurt looks up to tell Sebastian that he is ready to play them and he sees that Puck and Sebastian are having a conversation that looks rather intense. Kurt clears his throat and they both look up, shocked.

Sebastian walks quickly back over to the keyboard and smiles down at Kurt.

"You ready?"

Kurt nods again. He isn't talking much and that would be a sign to any of his friends that he feels out of place, but Sebastian doesn't seem to notice.

Kurt starts playing the first song and is surprised when Sebastian starts singing along that his voice mixes perfectly with the notes in a way that Kurt never expected. He sings with the music, not over it or around it and it's a really beautiful accompaniment. At the end of the song, Sebastian hold the note and Kurt knows that he needs to keep playing so he repeats the notes that he just played until Sebastian stops singing.

Sebastian smiles down at Kurt again and looks over to Puck, who nods and stands up and walks over to the keyboard as well.

"That was really good Kurt, I think you should be fine to play tonight, right?"

Kurt looks up at Puck and sends him a questioning glare. From the way that Finn had herded him out of his room, he thought that Puck was going to have him go through a grueling practice session.

"Don't you want me to play the other songs?"

"Naw, I trust you. You and Seb can keep practicing if you want. I have a pool to clean before we leave. I'll be back in a few."

Kurt watches Puck leave out of the room and doesn't turn to Sebastian until he hears a slam that he assumes is the front door closing.

Sebastian is still standing near the keyboard, but his smile has turned into a thoughtful expression. Kurt shuffles the sheet music for a while before the silence becomes to much for him to bear.

"Do you want to go over another song?"

Sebastian's eyes snap to Kurt's face and his smile returns.

"We don't have to."

"You don't want to make sure that I can play all of your songs?"

Sebastian chuckles in a friendly way that is Kurt isn't used to hearing from him. Most of his laughs always had some trace of deviance to them.

"I'm sure that you're highly capable of playing my songs, Kurt."

Kurt raises an eyebrow and his well rested brain clicks as he remembers something from earlier.

"Yes, your songs. I'm not sure about Finn and Puck, but I know how to properly read all of the aspects of sheet music. You wrote these songs, didn't you? Not just the lyrics, but the music too."

Instead of looking caught or worried, Sebastian just grins more.

"Yes, I did. I think Noah knows that I wrote the lyrics though."

"Well, they're really nice songs, I must admit."

"A compliment from Kurt Hummel, I feel honored."

Kurt rolls his eyes and then frowns. He's alone with Sebastian and as much as he wants to go back into the old familiarity of trading insults with him, he knows that they are both adults. Besides, he has bigger issues that he wants to handle with him.

"I know that you're paying for all of this."

"All of what?" Sebastian's face falls and this time he does look like he's been caught.

Kurt sighs and then gestures around the room. "All of this. The house, the car, probably the band equipment too."

Sebastian lowers his head and shuffles his feet for a moment before responding.

"I'm not paying them to stay here, if that's what you think."

Kurt is shocked, the thought had never crossed his mind. He had thought that maybe the money was an incentive, but he had never thought that Sebastian would sink low enough to actually bribe Finn and Puck and force them to stay.

"I didn't think that at all. I just thought that with your money-"

"Look Kurt, I know what you thought okay. You said it this morning. What could make Noah and Finn stay here, right?"

"I didn't mean it like that Sebastian." Kurt sighs and continues on. "It's just, I was shocked. I know that Finn and Puck couldn't afford all of this and I know that you can. I just wanted to know... How. I mean, it was odd enough that Finn and Puck actually went came here to California and now I find out that you're here with them. You guys are from Lima, Ohio. It can't be just a coincidence. I just want an explanation of how you guys ended up here. Together."

Sebastian stares at Kurt for what feels like forever before his mouth tugs up into a smile again. Kurt feels relieved, and that's odd because he can't remember feeling anxious about how Sebastian was going to react.

"I had always planned to come to LA for my music. I heard Noah talking about California and his pool cleaning service at a competition senior year. I think it was regionals? Any way, we decided to move out here together and start a band. Then a while later he told me that he wanted Finn to come too. I guess he and Rachel had broken up and he didn't want to go to New York. So we all moved in here. My parents bought it a while back when I told them what I was going to do. I don't mind footing the bills and I don't hold it over their heads, although sometimes it may seem like it."

Kurt's even more confused by Sebastian's explanation. Kurt has always been big on the small details, and Sebastian has skimmed over all of the ones that he was curious about.

"So, you guys own this place? But Finn pays rent and says he's broke! And you guys-"

"Finn says he's broke?" Sebastian seems genuinely curious about this and folds his arm across his chest.

"Well, no. But he said that he couldn't afford a haircut. Which is no excuse for the state of his hair, but chalked it up to Finn logic. In order to pay his share of the rent, he'll go without haircuts or something."

Sebastian relaxes and laughs, shaking his head. "No, Finn's not broke. He just thinks that he is."

"What?"

"I, well, nobody really pays rent. We own the house and my parents usually pay the utilities unless I tell them that we can cover it. We just take Finn's rent money."

"Who is we? And why are you taking Finn's money!"

Kurt can fill himself getting angry. He knows that Finn isn't the brightest bulb in the box, but that was no reason for Sebastian to take advantage of him.

Sebastian can sense Kurt's mood change and quickly tries to explain himself.

"No, no! Noah and I! We put it into a savings account for him!"

"You what?"

"The first month or so we came out here, Finn was spending up all of his nonsense, really. Noah and I decided to step in. I told him that he needed to start helping out with rent. So each month he gives me what he can. I put it into a savings account that Noah opened up for him."

Kurt calms down and he finds himself thinking that the idea is nice. Unexpected, but nice. It seems way out of character for both Puck and Sebastian. Maybe their characters have changed. Kurt knows that his sure have.

"That was really considerate of you guys. I just didn't know what to expect. All of you are so different."

Sebastian nods. "So are you, Kurt. We've all had to change. We moved to bigger cities and realized that our small town in Ohio didn't prepare us for the world."

Kurt laughs in agreement. "Definitely not."


End file.
